"Vision Quest" 2017

English

We are the ones from yesterday, we are the ones from today and we will be the ones from tomorrow...The vision quest ceremony is an opportunity to be alone with ourselves, to reconnect with Mother Earth and the Great Spirit.

Since the ancient times principally in northern American traditions, this quest was used to seek a purpose in life, to find out who we are and where we go, to reconnect with our spirit and the creator... to understand we are one with the universe...In this ceremony you will have the chance to go up on a mountain and be alone for 4 days without food and water.In exchange you will be able to learn to feed yourself with the flight of the birds, with the singing of the wind, the light of a new dawn and the colors of the sunset...

You will stay inside a circle, an altar of your prayers made of tobacco ties.Each tobacco tie is a prayer to the Great Spirit, through which you will introduce yourself to the spiritual world. You will introduce your parents, your grand parents and your ancestors.... they will be with you during the 4 days.

You must bring with you a blanket with an 8 pointed star attached in the center. This will be the connection between our prayers in the sweat lodge and your quest on the mountain...

Going up to the mountain and making your quest is your own choice, not someone else’s choice, so respect yourself, respect your soul and your spirit, respect your path and your breathing, respect all that has not been created by mankind...

Go to the vision quest without expectations but with hope... hope that something inside of you will change in a good way...Our prayers and our fast offering will be certainly heard by the Great Spirit. Join the vision quest with no ideas , better leave them at home. Go without anything that may distract you, so that you will have the chance to listen at the birds singing to the earth.

When you are up on the mountain forget about who you are in the city, forget about who you are in the world and be yourself. You don't have to proof anything to anyone... You will be alone with your heart, your spirit and your prayers in front of the creator... You will have a life-changing experience within a beautiful and ancient ceremony.

Prepare yourself in the sweat lodge, pray, sing, sweat out your fears... Say your name out loud, introduce yourself to the spirits... Burn out your ego in the holy fire... Be sincere... Great Spirit listens to all of us... and we can never lie to him....

Search for someone you trust to be your supporter. Your supporter will drink water for you, will eat for you, and will pray and sweat in the sweat doge every morning and every evening to giving you the strength to continue your quest. We will take care of you while you rediscover the respect for life and realize the fact that we all belong to this earth and we are all part of the universe and of the great mystery...

In the camp:

This is a familiar ceremony, so everyone is welcome! Children, adults and elders are welcome to join us in the camp. There will be activities, and games for the children, workshops and talks, and everyone is always welcome to share activities with the people in the camp!

There will also be a shopping area, where you can find art handcrafts from Mexico, North and South America!

Live the experience of cooking together as a community (common unity) and preparing the holy food for the whole camp to giving strength to the vision questers! This whole movement is based on trust, knowing that everything is in balance right here and right now.

The medicine, the ceremonies and the sweat lodges does not have any costs... However we ask for cooperation because performing this ceremony has certain costs, such as: rent of the place, toilets, food for the whole camp, wood for feeding the holy fire that will keep burning for the 4 days, flights for the people that come all the way from Mexico to share this medicine and prayers!

Contribution payment and registration

100 € seekers

150 € supporters

for children up to 12 years old a voluntary contribution is requested to help us with the expenses (suggested minimal contribution 50 €)

The medicine, the cerimonies and the Temazcal are free, but we are asking for a contribution since the realization of the event requires some expenses, like building materials for sharing spaces (kitchen and bathrooms); food for camp, wood for the sacred fire that will protect us during four days and to pay the flights for the people who will come from Mexico, to share this medicine with us.

Registration: we have only 100 admission available for this event. Your admission will be confirmed only after the deposit ( except different agreement with the organization)

Camp, restrictions and things to bring with you

In the camp will be built a communal kitchen. We will share various tasks for sustaining the camp and the seekers.We will camp near the river, there will be no showers and we will use the river to clean ourselves and wash the dishes, so be sure that any soap you bring with you is 100% biodegradable. There will also be vary basic dry toilets, nothing fancy!

The supporters will receive 3 vegetarian meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), from the dinner on the 31 August to the lunch on the final day. The seekers will join the to the dinner on the 31 August and to the lunch on the final day. If you have special needs please bring your own food.

close the cloth like a bag using a unique long red thread, spacing apart each bag as you wish

tie one end of the red thread to a wooden stick, and wind up the thread to the stick while you make each prayer/bag

wind up the thread neatly to the stick because this thread will be used to sign the perimeter of your sacred circle in the woods. The more you space apart the cloth bags between each other the bigger your circle will be, but the more complicated will be for you to unwind the thread later without entagle it.

Restrictions

During the ceremony (4 days) it's prohibited the use of any drug and alcohol, as well as any behaviour that is not in harmony with the spirit of the family.

It's prohibited to light fires anywhere (included: camp burners, candles, oil or gas lanterns) in all the area reserved for the "Vision Quest". It will only allowed to use of electric flashlights.

It's prohibited the use of any kind of soap in the river, a special area will be prepared for personal igiene where it will possible to use only biodegradable soaps

It's prohibited to make any video-audio recording inside the cerimonial circle.

Animals are not allowed.

Anyone below 18 cannot participate as seeker, only as supporter.

Anyone who has to take medicines daily or has important health issues cannot participate as seeker.

Mothers with children that are less than 5 years old cannot participate as seekers.

Any supporter that has children must have someone at the camp who can look after the children whent the supporter is doing the Temazcal cerimonies (dawn and sunset).

Women seekers with their menstruation period can only be supported at the camp by women who are having their period as well.

It will not be possible to access the camp or the any activity without the card of the organization "Radici della Terra" (covers also personal insurance).

The maximum number of participants is 99. Once excedeed that amount it won't be possible to accept any more persons at the cam

Program

August 31:

Arrival and camp installation. Presentation of everybody in the circle and check to see that everyone has his own prayers, and the star attached to the blanket for the vision quest.. (if not we will help each other out in the preparation of the prayers and the star to be ready for the vision quest).

September 1:

The morning before the sun is risen, we will open the ceremony with the first temazcal. The seekers will gather in the Temazcal area with their prayers, the blanket, and a small equipment for the quest.

We will enter the Temazcal, seekers and supporters, to seal the promise to be as one, to be seeker and supporter at the same time during the four days.

After the Temazcal we’ll go to seed the seekers in the mountain, so the ceremony begins, every seeker will be accompanied by his/her supporter.

The supporters will then return at camp where there will be the sacred food to start praying together for the seekers.

September 1,2 and 3:

At sunrise and sunset every supporter will enter the Temazcal to send strength for the day and heat for the cold night and a good prayer for a good life to the seekers

September 4:

At sunrise we will enter the Temazcal, then we will prepare the sacred food for the return of the seekers.. When food and Temazcal will be ready, every supporter will go on the mountain to meet the seekers ( remember not to talk with them and not to touch them yet, let’s give them the space and the respect that they deserve until the end of the ceremony).

We will conclude our prayer with the Temazcal, seekers and supporters together and then we will begin the sharing of the sacred food.

So this ends our four days promise, we will begin to dismantle the camp and the kitchen.

For more convenience and to support the people who are coming from afar and have to catch a flight, we can stay Sunday night in the camp, so we can return home relaxed and with the good medicine.

On Monday morning we should leave the ceremony location.

As our ancestors would say, we must always leave the place better than we found it.

So the place will stay clean and full of good prayers for all our relation.

We will share the experience of living in community, we will cook together, we will eat together for the seekers and we will take care of each other like the world spiritual family we are… We all are brothers and sisters, children of the same mother Earth, so we will take care of every child as if they were our own … they are the future!

Ceremony location and transportations:

Google Map(In the above map you will find 2 placeholders: "Parking " and "Camping". Please do not come to the camping with your car, always stop at the parking and then walk to the camping!)GPS coordinates: 42.587201 (north), 11.595272 (east) - these coordinates will bring you to the parking, from there you have to walk about 1 km to arrive to the camp

From Rome or Pisa:

The nearest airport is: Rome and PisaTake the train (www.trenitalia.it) or bus (T.M. Company) until you reach Albinia station (Grosseto), from Albinia take the bus for Pitigliano and get out at the stop "La Fiora" close to the Capannella bar, go to the bar and then call us so we can come to take you to camp. Map from Albinia to Capannella Bar

close the cloth like a bag using a unique long red thread, spacing apart each bag as you wish

tie one end of the red thread to a wooden stick, and wind up the thread to the stick while you make each prayer/bag

wind up the thread neatly to the stick because this thread will be used to sign the perimeter of your sacred circle in the woods. The more you space apart the cloth bags between each other the bigger your circle will be, but the more complicated will be for you to unwind the thread later without entagle it.

Restrictions

During the ceremony (4 days) it's prohibited the use of any drug and alcohol, as well as any behaviour that is not in harmony with the spirit of the family.

It's prohibited to light fires anywhere. There will be only the Sacred Fire for the Temazcal.

It's prohibited to make any video-audio recording inside the cerimonial circle.

Animals are not allowed.

Anyone below 18 cannot participate as seeker, only as supporter.

Anyone who has to take medicines daily or has important health issues cannot participate as seeker.

Mothers with children that are less than 5 years old cannot participate as seekers.

Any supporter that has children must have someone at the camp who can look after the children whent the supporter is doing the Temazcal cerimonies (dawn and sunset).

Women seekers with their menstruation period can only be supported at the camp by women who are having their period as well.

All the participants accept to follow the directions of the event staff.

All the participants accept to contribute to basic activities in the camp (kitchen, wood fetching, ect.)

The seekers accept to follow the directions of their guide that will "seed" them in their sacred circles.

The seekers accept to remain in their sacred circled for 4 days, without moving away from that area, unless they want to come back to the camp (they can come back before the end of the 4 days if they want).

All the participants take full responsability for their health and phisical condition during the whole ceremony.

Locación e trasportes para llegar

Località Manciano, comuna di Pitigliano. (Toscana) Italia

Google Map(In the above map you will find 2 placeholders: "Parking " and "Camping". Please do not come to the camping with your car, always stop at the parking and then walk to the camping!)GPS coordinates: 42.587201 (north), 11.595272 (east) - these coordinates will bring you to the parking, from there you have to walk about 1 km to arrive to the camp